Prod. RM16, Mickey's Parrot.

Directed by Bill Roberts, assisted by Mike Holoboff, with layouts by Hal Doughty. Released 9/9/38, this FINAL draft dated 6/15/38.
Animation by Fred Spencer, Art Palmer, Dick Lundy, Les Clark, Bob Wickersham and Shamus/Jimmie Culhane, with effects by Cornett Wood and Josh Meador.

Found on the Treasures DVD Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Vol. 1 Disk 2 or on YouTube, though unofficially, of course, and not in the best quality here.

This short film is one of the few short film directed by Bill Roberts not part of a feature film, the others are The Brave Little Tailor and Society Dog Show. For having been made well after Snow White had begun its conquest of the world, this film has surprisingly varied animation and drawing quality. Lundy's work seems to harken back to earlier days, while Culhane scenes show solid drawing of Pluto's body, but rather awkward expressions.

A bit about myself: I have been busying myself with my regular work, currently editing another feature film, "The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear" based on a successful Danish children's book.
After hours I am, with help from the Walt Disney Archives and Photo Library, reworking my walk-through of Walt Disney's Hyperion Ave. Studio 1926-1940, which I look forward to present (again) at the D23 Expo in Anaheim in July. A new version of (ca. June) 1929 shows an even smaller studio than we for years had taken for granted, and (April-May) 1939 also sees a few corrections based on new revelations. All this has eaten most of my time these past months, which resulted in my not having been able to keep up my blog at regular intervals. I aim to improve that situation, at least a little...

Prod. 2242 - Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip

Directed by Gerry Geronimi, assisted by Don Duckwall (the first Disney employee who wrote me back in 1976, by which time he was production manager at the studio). Layout by Jim Carmichael.
Released 10 days before Fantasia, on 11/01/40, this 2nd draft dated 5/16/40.

I suppose by now we all have seen the clip of Walt as Mickey and Billy Bletcher as Pete. It was available on the Disney treasures DVD: Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol.2. Someone uploaded it to YouTube.


Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip isn't the best of Disney's output, not by a long shot, but it sure put Pomona on the map for me! A great place for antiquing! The short itself is abundantly available on YouTube.

In the draft we meet Andy Engman, Dick Lundy, Chic Otterstrom, Ken Muse, Ed Love, Marvin Woodward, Claude Smith and Nick Nichols.

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Miffy is all finished, folks! Personally I think it is great, but I would have to, wouldn't I? The premiere is in Holland in January. Let's hope the audience likes it as much as I do!

Prod. 2225 - The Autograph Hound

Directed by Jack King who picked it up 2/23/39.
Released 9/01/36, this FINAL draft dated 8/14/39.

Animated by Claude Smith, Ray Patin, Lee Morehouse, John Elliotte, Larry Clemmons, Ken Muse, Paul Allen, Dun(bar) Roman, Ed Love, Bob Stokes, Ken Peterson, Ward Kimball, Johnny Cannon, Judge Whitaker, Nick deTolly, Ozzie Evans, Rex Cox, John Dunn, Andy Engman, Emory Hawkins. (No Culhane as per IMDb, though!)

Some of these animators became heavyweights at studios other than Disney's, including obviously Muse and Hawkins. Ray Patin made commercials from the late 40's to the 60's. Others found other jobs within the company, like Ken Peterson who went into middle management, and Larry Clemmons who became a writer - after working on Bing Crosby's radio shows in the 40's and 50's.

A film of mixed drawing quality, but nothing hideously awful, really. Bob Stokes' scenes are especially nice, but Kimball's scenes stick out as the most inventive and over the top. But who could doubt that?

The background for the first scene was for sale recently...

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Still terribly busy! Trying to get all animation for my film done within the next few weeks. So I may not be able to post much, but I will try!

Prod. 2218 - Goofy and Wilbur

IMDb shows us that the film was directed by Dick Huemer, written by Otto Englander, with music by Paul J. Smith. This was the period where George Johnson had taken over from Pinto Colvig as Goofy's voice. This FINAL draft is just dated 1938, though the film was released 3/17/39, nr. 10 in the 2nd. RKO series (1938-39).

Animation by Woolie Reitherman, Bernie Wolf, Izzie Klein, Ed Love and Art Babbitt, with effects by Josh Meador.

For some of my dearest friends, this is the film they love to hate.
I am not mentioning names! Instead I just present this document and hope for your insightful comments!

Prod. 2262 - Canine Caddy

It's been too long since we last saw the draft of a short film, therefor I here present the draft for Prod. 2262, Canine Caddy, in which Pluto caddies for Mickey but is distracted by a gopher.Directed by Gerry Geronimi (who picked it up 7/20/40), assisted by Don Duckwall (who was at the studio still when I first contacted them in 1976, and had risen to Production Manager). Layout by Bruce Bushman. This draft dated 1/28/41. Released (during the infamous strike) on 5/30/41.

This draft is one of the most detailed ones I have seen so far, precisely outlining the effects animators and their effects. We find no Fred Moore or Ward Kimball on here, instead some folks we normally associate with other studios, like Ken Muse and Emery Hawkins, who had their beginnings in animation at the Disney studios. Like most of the other animators mentioned in this draft, both participated in the strike; at the time Muse's weekly salary was $67.50, Hawkins' $59.00.

Animation by Ken Muse, Morey Reden, Emery Hawkins, Charles Nichols, George Nicholas, Norm Tate, Volus Jones, Eric Gurney and Chic Otterstrom.
Effects by Jack Boyd, Jerome Brown, Andy Engman, Jack Huber, Brad Case, Reuben Timmins, Ed Aardal, Ed Parks, Fitzpatrick (again, see previously), (?) Kingman, George Rowley, Frank Onaitis, Jack Gayek and Paul Kossoff.

Prod. RM9 - Mickey's Trailer

Another classic! I bet everyone has seen this film.
Animation by Louie Schmidt, Johnny Cannon, Don Patterson, Gerry Geronimi, Tom Palmer, Cy Young (effects), Frenchy de Trémaudan and Ed Love.

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen, released on 3/6/38.
This draft dated 1/19/38...Excuse my erratic posting - things are crazy busy, with the upcoming D23 and our Lost Chords concert there on September 12th!